The magic begins…

We are now getting organized for our first Gathering of the Priestesses and Priests of Isis, which will either be in late Oct or early Nov. (Hey, YOU try to get 20-some people organized without that much lead time.) I’m excited..and from what I hear from the other ritualists, they are, too.

We shall Work (with a capital W) throughout the winter and spring so that by summer solstice we will be a true Temple of Isis, our magical energies in harmony with each other, so that we may serve well in Her SunFest temple and help show our sisters and brothers in the greater community the beauty and grace of Isis.

Oh, and since I’ve mentioned the capital w Work, here’s a side note on that.

Those of you in magical communities may have heard ceremonial magicians call their rituals “workings.” And perhaps you thought it was either pretentious or way-too-technical sounding. But actually, there is an ancient and honorable precedent for the term.

In late Pagan times, there was a particular branch of spirituality/philosophy called Theurgy. It means, literally, God-Working. The idea behind Theurgy is that in order to uplift the human soul to the Divine, the human being needed to work with the Divine through repeated ritual.

One of the great proponents of Theurgy, the philosopher Iamblichus, said one of my favorite things about ritual and the Divine. He said that the Gods and Goddesses do not respond to ritual because of the correspondences or particular words we use in our rites, but because of Their love for us. I’m with you, Iamblichus baby.

I am a ritualist by nature and by training and so I place great value on ritual…as did the ancient Egyptians. Ritual is how we DO religion. Yet all ritual does is create an open channel between us and the Deities. Something else must happen to enliven that channel and enable us to connect, human to Divine, Divine to human. To me, that something is magic. You might also call it soul or spirit or grace or any number of things. But for me, it’s sacred magic.

And so, that’s what we shall be doing this winter and spring: sacred magic under the wings of Isis.